China to phase out fuel cars in favour of electric vehicles

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is developing a time frame for ending the construction and sale of fuel cars as it makes the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), according to state media citing a Cabinet official. Deputy industry minister Xin Guobin said at an auto industry forum on Saturday that his ministry has begun "research on formulating a timetable to stop production and sales of traditional energy vehicles", according to Xinhua News Agency, such as gasoline and diesel cars. No specific target dates were given in the reports, however. China is the biggest auto market in the world by number of vehicles sold, meaning such a policy change could have a sizeable effect on the global industry. The country joins France and Britain in their plans to oust fuel cars, both of which announced goals in July to completely stop sales of gasoline and diesel automobiles by 2040 to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.